Preserving Academic Diversity: Promises and Uncertainties of PAR as a Survival Strategy

Abstract

This paper reports on our local initiative in an ongoing participatory action research (PAR) project with three academic communities in Helsinki. The project offers an opportunity to reflect on the nature of collaborative strategies in the context of university reforms. We critically examine PAR as an ideal and as a practice, and elaborate on its promises and uncertainties.

Conflicting Time Perspectives in Academic Work

“…Mäntylä, 2000b). This tension is consistent with a large number of empirical investigations which all point to the same trend in academic work: the increase in workload, distress and external control, accompanied by diminishing autonomy, lacking time management, lower social status and lower salary (see Barry et al, 2001;Fisher, 1994;Kogan et al, 1994;Parker and Jary, 1995;Prichard and Willmott, 1997;Räsänen and Mäntylä, 2001;Slaughter and Leslie, 1997;Smith and Webster, 1997;Trowler, 1998;Ylijoki, forthcoming). On this basis it can be argued that academics in present-day universities live in 'temporal prisons' (Hochschild, 1997), experiencing a specific 'time screw' (Salmi, 1997) where every new temporal constraint tightens the grip of the screw.…”

“…The focus varied between the two projects. One was directed broadly towards all aspects of academic work (research, teaching, expert services and selfgovernance of academic units) (see Mäntylä, 2000a;Räsänen and Mäntylä, 2001) and the other more strictly to research work (Hakala and Ylijoki, 2001;Ylijoki, 2002, forthcoming). All the interviewees had worked for several years or decades in academia, thus having wide-ranging experiences of academic work.…”

Fire and water combined: Understanding the Relevance of Working Life Studies through a Concept of Practical Activity

“…However, his typology covers a wide range of research styles typical at least in organization and management studies, and I would argue here, in the study of work. After minor modifications and additions (Räsänen & Mäntylä 2001), the classification has worked very well in our local context, with new researchers and more experienced colleagues. I first outline the set of potential goals, and then propose senses in which we are talking about research politics here.…”

Academic Knowledge Production: Framework of Practical Activity in the Context of Transformative Food Studies

“…Developed by a research group within our (former) local academic community, the framework of practical activity (FPA) (Räsänen and Mäntylä, 2001;Räsänen, 2008Räsänen, , 2009Räsänen, , 2015Räsänen and Trux, 2012) is the result of an effort to develop "an alternative, constructive, and participatory approach to higher education research" (Räsänen, 2008, p. 2). Acknowledging the diverse disciplinary traditions behind practice theories and drawing on the work of several known scholars (e.g., Pierre Bourdieu, Michel de Certeau, Alasdair MacIntyre and Dorothy Holland), FPA aims to direct people-be they researchers, citizens, businesspeople, artists, food activists, or other practitioners-to their own and/or others' practices.…”

“…The framework assumes that one or some of these questions are more important than others, depending on the researcher. For example, in their analysis of three units in three different institutions, Räsänen and Mäntylä (2001) developed four potential integrative identities in a business school: (concerned) social scientist, (multi-skilled) business academic, academic specialist and (participatory) action researcher. Concerned social scientists conduct critical and autonomous research that forms the basis for their teaching.…”